Paul Brown
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265536
- eISBN:
- 9780191760327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265536.003.0021
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Tipping points are exciting yet frustrating for journalists. They evoke progressive disaster and possible sudden catastrophe. But the scientific uncertainty over their onset and outcome makes it very ...
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Tipping points are exciting yet frustrating for journalists. They evoke progressive disaster and possible sudden catastrophe. But the scientific uncertainty over their onset and outcome makes it very difficult for the serious journalist to be sure of what information to convey and when in the awareness cycle. Where there is good chance of reversibility and where there is political or economic inaction of obfuscation, there is a news story. But the social network is hampering the accuracy and clarity of communication and clogging up useful and productive debate. Journalists need to develop the courage, and to guide their news desks accordingly, that seriously important tipping points, even if vaguely familiar to readers, still require persistent and accurate coverage.Less
Tipping points are exciting yet frustrating for journalists. They evoke progressive disaster and possible sudden catastrophe. But the scientific uncertainty over their onset and outcome makes it very difficult for the serious journalist to be sure of what information to convey and when in the awareness cycle. Where there is good chance of reversibility and where there is political or economic inaction of obfuscation, there is a news story. But the social network is hampering the accuracy and clarity of communication and clogging up useful and productive debate. Journalists need to develop the courage, and to guide their news desks accordingly, that seriously important tipping points, even if vaguely familiar to readers, still require persistent and accurate coverage.
Oliver Penrose
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231256
- eISBN:
- 9780191710803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231256.003.0015
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
Kelvin played a big part in the development of statistical mechanics, both for equilibrium and non-equilibrium. This chapter reviews these developments, taking a particular interest in Kelvin's own ...
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Kelvin played a big part in the development of statistical mechanics, both for equilibrium and non-equilibrium. This chapter reviews these developments, taking a particular interest in Kelvin's own contributions. Topics covered include Kelvin and thermoelectricity, gas modeled as a collection of molecules, the reversibility paradox, mathematical probability models, and Boltzmann's equations.Less
Kelvin played a big part in the development of statistical mechanics, both for equilibrium and non-equilibrium. This chapter reviews these developments, taking a particular interest in Kelvin's own contributions. Topics covered include Kelvin and thermoelectricity, gas modeled as a collection of molecules, the reversibility paradox, mathematical probability models, and Boltzmann's equations.
Graham Bell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198569725
- eISBN:
- 9780191717741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198569725.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The mechanism of evolutionary change can be studied directly through selection experiments in laboratory microcosms. This chapter begins by describing the experimental approach to evolution, and goes ...
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The mechanism of evolutionary change can be studied directly through selection experiments in laboratory microcosms. This chapter begins by describing the experimental approach to evolution, and goes on to analyse adaptation over different time scales. The first section in this chapter is about microcosmologica. Subsections here concern Dallinger's experiment; the laboratory microcosm; the inhabitants of the microcosm; the selection experiment; fitness and adaptedness; and microcosm genealogy. The second section is all about sorting (in other words selection of pre-existing variation) and includes subsection on a single episode of selection; the sorting of a single type; the mixture of discrete types; the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection; the sorting in finite populations; drift and selection; and fluctuating population size. The third section is on purifying selection (defined as maintaining adaptedness despite genetic deterioration) and this section discusses the following: mutation-drift balance; mutation-selection equilibrium; and Muller's Ratchet. The fourth section is about directional selection (this is restoring adaptedness despite environmental deterioration) and details the probability that a beneficial mutation will be fixed; periodic selection; Fisher's geometrical analogy; the variable-mutation model; the extreme-value mode; clonal interference; the distribution of fitness effects; genetic interference; and the genetic basis of adaptation. The fifth section is about successive substitution and includes detail on phenotypic evolution towards the optimum; adaptive walks; transitivity; and clonal interference. The sixth section, Cumulative adaptation, includes the following: the protein matrix; connectance; synthetic beneficial mutations; functional interaction in a protein structure; the evolution of RNA sequences; reversibility; cumulation; cumulative construction of novel amidases; diminishing returns; and contingency. The last section called Successive substitution at several loci explains genetic interactions; the adaptive landscape; the allele matrix; compensatory mutations; compound structures; processing chains; the effect of mutation in a simple processing chain; the pattern of adaptation; the evolution of metabolic pathways; in vitro selection; genetic changes during adaptation; and repeated adaptation.Less
The mechanism of evolutionary change can be studied directly through selection experiments in laboratory microcosms. This chapter begins by describing the experimental approach to evolution, and goes on to analyse adaptation over different time scales. The first section in this chapter is about microcosmologica. Subsections here concern Dallinger's experiment; the laboratory microcosm; the inhabitants of the microcosm; the selection experiment; fitness and adaptedness; and microcosm genealogy. The second section is all about sorting (in other words selection of pre-existing variation) and includes subsection on a single episode of selection; the sorting of a single type; the mixture of discrete types; the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection; the sorting in finite populations; drift and selection; and fluctuating population size. The third section is on purifying selection (defined as maintaining adaptedness despite genetic deterioration) and this section discusses the following: mutation-drift balance; mutation-selection equilibrium; and Muller's Ratchet. The fourth section is about directional selection (this is restoring adaptedness despite environmental deterioration) and details the probability that a beneficial mutation will be fixed; periodic selection; Fisher's geometrical analogy; the variable-mutation model; the extreme-value mode; clonal interference; the distribution of fitness effects; genetic interference; and the genetic basis of adaptation. The fifth section is about successive substitution and includes detail on phenotypic evolution towards the optimum; adaptive walks; transitivity; and clonal interference. The sixth section, Cumulative adaptation, includes the following: the protein matrix; connectance; synthetic beneficial mutations; functional interaction in a protein structure; the evolution of RNA sequences; reversibility; cumulation; cumulative construction of novel amidases; diminishing returns; and contingency. The last section called Successive substitution at several loci explains genetic interactions; the adaptive landscape; the allele matrix; compensatory mutations; compound structures; processing chains; the effect of mutation in a simple processing chain; the pattern of adaptation; the evolution of metabolic pathways; in vitro selection; genetic changes during adaptation; and repeated adaptation.
F. Bermúdez-Rattoni
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198523475
- eISBN:
- 9780191712678
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523475.003.0008
- Subject:
- Psychology, Neuropsychology
Removed insular cortex (IC – about 3 mm3) can be substituted 60 days later by homotopic fetal IC transplant allowing CTA relearning. Similar attempts to compensate the lesioned amygdala by ...
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Removed insular cortex (IC – about 3 mm3) can be substituted 60 days later by homotopic fetal IC transplant allowing CTA relearning. Similar attempts to compensate the lesioned amygdala by transplantation were less successful, probably because less HRP labelled cells regenerated in the Am than in the IC transplants. Recovery of CTA was absent after 15 days, poor after 30–45 days, and normal after 60 days following transplantation. Positive results were due to improved connectivity and to a higher content of trophic factors (NGF) and of acetyltransferase. In contrast, cholinergic blockade by scopolamine delayed the transplantation induced CTA recovery. Grafting fetal homotopic IC tissue allowed for a full recovery of the already learned CTA and learning CTA to novel taste. Grafting fetal occipital cortex into the lesioned IC allowed for recovery of the already established CTA but not any learning of new CTAs. This evidence indicates that the ‘reversibility’ of the ablation procedure is valid only when access to critical input and output centers remains preserved.Less
Removed insular cortex (IC – about 3 mm3) can be substituted 60 days later by homotopic fetal IC transplant allowing CTA relearning. Similar attempts to compensate the lesioned amygdala by transplantation were less successful, probably because less HRP labelled cells regenerated in the Am than in the IC transplants. Recovery of CTA was absent after 15 days, poor after 30–45 days, and normal after 60 days following transplantation. Positive results were due to improved connectivity and to a higher content of trophic factors (NGF) and of acetyltransferase. In contrast, cholinergic blockade by scopolamine delayed the transplantation induced CTA recovery. Grafting fetal homotopic IC tissue allowed for a full recovery of the already learned CTA and learning CTA to novel taste. Grafting fetal occipital cortex into the lesioned IC allowed for recovery of the already established CTA but not any learning of new CTAs. This evidence indicates that the ‘reversibility’ of the ablation procedure is valid only when access to critical input and output centers remains preserved.
Georges Dicker
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195153064
- eISBN:
- 9780199835027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195153065.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter offers a detailed analysis and a critique of Kant’s attempt in the Third Analogy to prove that all substances stand in relations of causal reciprocity. It discusses implications of ...
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This chapter offers a detailed analysis and a critique of Kant’s attempt in the Third Analogy to prove that all substances stand in relations of causal reciprocity. It discusses implications of modern physics for Kant’s argument, and, drawing again on Guyer’s work, reconstructs and evaluates the most plausible version of the argument.Less
This chapter offers a detailed analysis and a critique of Kant’s attempt in the Third Analogy to prove that all substances stand in relations of causal reciprocity. It discusses implications of modern physics for Kant’s argument, and, drawing again on Guyer’s work, reconstructs and evaluates the most plausible version of the argument.
Francesco Parisi and Vincy Fon
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374155
- eISBN:
- 9780199871834
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374155.003.0010
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter compares custom formation in the specific context of a cooperation problem, under the alternative environments of role-reversibility and stochastic ignorance. The quantitative element of ...
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This chapter compares custom formation in the specific context of a cooperation problem, under the alternative environments of role-reversibility and stochastic ignorance. The quantitative element of a custom is given by a behavioral pattern that emerges through the independent or interdependent actions or statements of individuals, each of whom pursues his self-interest. The optimal choices of individuals under two perspectives are considered, role-reversibility and stochastic ignorance, in the absence of preexisting customs or social structure. The effect of group size on the emergence of custom is discussed and it is shown that variations in group size have different effects upon the two regimes of stochastic ignorance and role-reversibility. Under both regimes cooperative customs are more likely to emerge when individuals interact in smaller groups, but stochastic ignorance and role-reversibility induce different effort levels.Less
This chapter compares custom formation in the specific context of a cooperation problem, under the alternative environments of role-reversibility and stochastic ignorance. The quantitative element of a custom is given by a behavioral pattern that emerges through the independent or interdependent actions or statements of individuals, each of whom pursues his self-interest. The optimal choices of individuals under two perspectives are considered, role-reversibility and stochastic ignorance, in the absence of preexisting customs or social structure. The effect of group size on the emergence of custom is discussed and it is shown that variations in group size have different effects upon the two regimes of stochastic ignorance and role-reversibility. Under both regimes cooperative customs are more likely to emerge when individuals interact in smaller groups, but stochastic ignorance and role-reversibility induce different effort levels.
Saul M. Olyan
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199264865
- eISBN:
- 9780191698996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264865.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first section, ‘Mourning in Social Science Discussion’ tackles some of the more important anthropological research on mourning. The second section ...
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This chapter is divided into three parts. The first section, ‘Mourning in Social Science Discussion’ tackles some of the more important anthropological research on mourning. The second section ‘Mourning and Rejoicing as Ritual Oppositions’ describes the antithetical relationship of biblical mourning rites and rites of cultic rejoicing explained most effectively by G. A. Anderson. It adds further observations and relevant texts for consideration. The third section ‘Identifying Types of Mourning’ justifies the use of the use of term ‘mourning’ for ritual behaviours not directly linked to the death of an individual. It briefly looks into the points of contrast and similarity among the types of mourning, such as locus, presence or absence of pollution, time period, and ease of reversibility.Less
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first section, ‘Mourning in Social Science Discussion’ tackles some of the more important anthropological research on mourning. The second section ‘Mourning and Rejoicing as Ritual Oppositions’ describes the antithetical relationship of biblical mourning rites and rites of cultic rejoicing explained most effectively by G. A. Anderson. It adds further observations and relevant texts for consideration. The third section ‘Identifying Types of Mourning’ justifies the use of the use of term ‘mourning’ for ritual behaviours not directly linked to the death of an individual. It briefly looks into the points of contrast and similarity among the types of mourning, such as locus, presence or absence of pollution, time period, and ease of reversibility.
Saul M. Olyan
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199264865
- eISBN:
- 9780191698996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264865.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter focuses on mourning the dead. All mourning behaviours function to separate the mourner ritually from society and the cult. The ritual separation of the mourner over the dead is ...
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This chapter focuses on mourning the dead. All mourning behaviours function to separate the mourner ritually from society and the cult. The ritual separation of the mourner over the dead is accomplished by distinct practices such as weeping, sitting on the ground, tossing ashes or dust upon the ground, and tearing of garments. The chapter also explores several aspects of mourning, aside from weeping and tearing of garments. Four interesting characteristics of mourning are: the length of the mourning period, the locus of mourning, the mourner's impurity, and the reversibility of mourning. The process of ritual separation may be aided by the activities of mourning professionals, often women, whose performance may illicit the appropriate ritual response from mourners and those who join them. The chapter concludes with the social dimensions of mourning as context for both social continuity and change.Less
This chapter focuses on mourning the dead. All mourning behaviours function to separate the mourner ritually from society and the cult. The ritual separation of the mourner over the dead is accomplished by distinct practices such as weeping, sitting on the ground, tossing ashes or dust upon the ground, and tearing of garments. The chapter also explores several aspects of mourning, aside from weeping and tearing of garments. Four interesting characteristics of mourning are: the length of the mourning period, the locus of mourning, the mourner's impurity, and the reversibility of mourning. The process of ritual separation may be aided by the activities of mourning professionals, often women, whose performance may illicit the appropriate ritual response from mourners and those who join them. The chapter concludes with the social dimensions of mourning as context for both social continuity and change.
MARCUS GEORGE SINGER
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250210
- eISBN:
- 9780191681264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250210.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter argues that the Golden Rule does not require anyone to do for another what he thinks he would want himself to do if he were that other. ...
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This chapter argues that the Golden Rule does not require anyone to do for another what he thinks he would want himself to do if he were that other. Such an interpretation makes it equivalent to its Inversion. What the Golden Rule requires is that everyone ought to act in his relations with others on the same standards or principles that he would have them apply in their treatment of him, taking account of and respecting, but not necessarily acceding to, their wishes and desires. This is the most that anyone can reasonably ask, but nothing less will suffice. Naturally, the Golden Rule by itself does not unambiguously and definitely determine just what these ‘standards or principles’ should be, but it does something towards determining this, and it is not necessary that it do everything.Less
This chapter argues that the Golden Rule does not require anyone to do for another what he thinks he would want himself to do if he were that other. Such an interpretation makes it equivalent to its Inversion. What the Golden Rule requires is that everyone ought to act in his relations with others on the same standards or principles that he would have them apply in their treatment of him, taking account of and respecting, but not necessarily acceding to, their wishes and desires. This is the most that anyone can reasonably ask, but nothing less will suffice. Naturally, the Golden Rule by itself does not unambiguously and definitely determine just what these ‘standards or principles’ should be, but it does something towards determining this, and it is not necessary that it do everything.
Stephen J. Blundell and Katherine M. Blundell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199562091
- eISBN:
- 9780191718236
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562091.003.0012
- Subject:
- Physics, Particle Physics / Astrophysics / Cosmology
This chapter applies the results of the previous chapter to illustrate some properties concerning isothermal and adiabatic expansions of gases. These results will assume that the expansions are ...
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This chapter applies the results of the previous chapter to illustrate some properties concerning isothermal and adiabatic expansions of gases. These results will assume that the expansions are reversible, and so the first part of the chapter explores the key concept of reversibility. This will be important for the discussion of entropy in subsequent chapters.Less
This chapter applies the results of the previous chapter to illustrate some properties concerning isothermal and adiabatic expansions of gases. These results will assume that the expansions are reversible, and so the first part of the chapter explores the key concept of reversibility. This will be important for the discussion of entropy in subsequent chapters.
Scarlett Baron
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693788
- eISBN:
- 9780191732157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693788.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism, European Literature
Chapter 2 is devoted to a close intertextual reading of both authors’ collections of stories, Trois Contes (1877) and Dubliners (1914). The argument focuses on the word ‘gnomon’, which famously ...
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Chapter 2 is devoted to a close intertextual reading of both authors’ collections of stories, Trois Contes (1877) and Dubliners (1914). The argument focuses on the word ‘gnomon’, which famously appears in italics in the opening paragraph of Joyce’s collection, and which affiliates it to Flaubert’s short story, ‘Hérodias’, in which it also features. The use of this rare word is read as a gesture of acknowledgement on Joyce’s part, indicating a subtle but extensive semantic, thematic, symbolic, and structural intertextuality between his and Flaubert’s short stories. The chapter also considers Joyce’s response on a technical level, exploring the modes of his elaborations on Flaubert in such areas as the splicing of the realistic and the symbolic, the blurring of the boundaries between the static and the dynamic, and the deployment of cinematographic writing.Less
Chapter 2 is devoted to a close intertextual reading of both authors’ collections of stories, Trois Contes (1877) and Dubliners (1914). The argument focuses on the word ‘gnomon’, which famously appears in italics in the opening paragraph of Joyce’s collection, and which affiliates it to Flaubert’s short story, ‘Hérodias’, in which it also features. The use of this rare word is read as a gesture of acknowledgement on Joyce’s part, indicating a subtle but extensive semantic, thematic, symbolic, and structural intertextuality between his and Flaubert’s short stories. The chapter also considers Joyce’s response on a technical level, exploring the modes of his elaborations on Flaubert in such areas as the splicing of the realistic and the symbolic, the blurring of the boundaries between the static and the dynamic, and the deployment of cinematographic writing.
Leslie Hill
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198159711
- eISBN:
- 9780191716065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159711.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter investigates Pierre Klossowski's challenging and idiosyncratic reworking of Nietzsche's doctrine of eternal return. It explores the writer's long-lasting but shifting engagement with the ...
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This chapter investigates Pierre Klossowski's challenging and idiosyncratic reworking of Nietzsche's doctrine of eternal return. It explores the writer's long-lasting but shifting engagement with the writings of Sade, and examines how philosophy, theology, and myth in Klossowski's varied work (which includes philosophical exegesis, translation, and uncategorisable essayistic meditations) become the point of departure for a different type of fictional writing that, by examining the reversibility inherent in fantasy and phantasm, decisively challenges received conceptions of identity and meaning. To this end, the chapter proposes a detailed rereading of Klossowski's 1965 trinity of novels Les Lois de l'hospitalité (bringing together La Révocation de L'Édit de Nantes, Roberte, ce soir, and Le Souffleur), and demonstrates how in those narratives, numerous inherited philosophical assumptions are severely put to the test by literature itself.Less
This chapter investigates Pierre Klossowski's challenging and idiosyncratic reworking of Nietzsche's doctrine of eternal return. It explores the writer's long-lasting but shifting engagement with the writings of Sade, and examines how philosophy, theology, and myth in Klossowski's varied work (which includes philosophical exegesis, translation, and uncategorisable essayistic meditations) become the point of departure for a different type of fictional writing that, by examining the reversibility inherent in fantasy and phantasm, decisively challenges received conceptions of identity and meaning. To this end, the chapter proposes a detailed rereading of Klossowski's 1965 trinity of novels Les Lois de l'hospitalité (bringing together La Révocation de L'Édit de Nantes, Roberte, ce soir, and Le Souffleur), and demonstrates how in those narratives, numerous inherited philosophical assumptions are severely put to the test by literature itself.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199739998
- eISBN:
- 9780199895045
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739998.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
There has been almost universal agreement that Aristotle's so-called reduction of metaphors to similes is hopelessly inadequate. The philosophers who have lined up against Aristotle are an impressive ...
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There has been almost universal agreement that Aristotle's so-called reduction of metaphors to similes is hopelessly inadequate. The philosophers who have lined up against Aristotle are an impressive group of leading philosophers, including Max Black, John Searle, Nelson Goodman, and Donald Davidson. Their criticisms are examined in close detail and rejected. At bottom, they all seem to turn on the same mistake, namely, that Aristotle's treatment of metaphors as elliptical similes amounts to reducing metaphors to literal comparisons when, in fact, Aristotle holds that similes are themselves figurative. The chapter takes over Tversky's account of the relationship between literal and figurative comparisons, taking the notion of salience as central.Less
There has been almost universal agreement that Aristotle's so-called reduction of metaphors to similes is hopelessly inadequate. The philosophers who have lined up against Aristotle are an impressive group of leading philosophers, including Max Black, John Searle, Nelson Goodman, and Donald Davidson. Their criticisms are examined in close detail and rejected. At bottom, they all seem to turn on the same mistake, namely, that Aristotle's treatment of metaphors as elliptical similes amounts to reducing metaphors to literal comparisons when, in fact, Aristotle holds that similes are themselves figurative. The chapter takes over Tversky's account of the relationship between literal and figurative comparisons, taking the notion of salience as central.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199739998
- eISBN:
- 9780199895045
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739998.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
With these objections out of the way, this chapter presents a positive account of how figurative comparisons function. Figurative comparisons build on the resources provided by non-figurative (or ...
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With these objections out of the way, this chapter presents a positive account of how figurative comparisons function. Figurative comparisons build on the resources provided by non-figurative (or literal) comparisons. Roughly, a literal claim that A is similar to B indicates A shares some of B's salient features. Such claims are valuable in at least three ways: (1) They can convey a great deal of information in a compact form; (2) They can solve ineffability problems; and (3) They can call attention to likenesses that might go unnoticed. Following Tversky, with metaphors, the governing salient features are reversed from B to A, thus setting for the respondent the task of readjusting the context to make sense of this shift.Less
With these objections out of the way, this chapter presents a positive account of how figurative comparisons function. Figurative comparisons build on the resources provided by non-figurative (or literal) comparisons. Roughly, a literal claim that A is similar to B indicates A shares some of B's salient features. Such claims are valuable in at least three ways: (1) They can convey a great deal of information in a compact form; (2) They can solve ineffability problems; and (3) They can call attention to likenesses that might go unnoticed. Following Tversky, with metaphors, the governing salient features are reversed from B to A, thus setting for the respondent the task of readjusting the context to make sense of this shift.
Craig Callender
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199577439
- eISBN:
- 9780191730603
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577439.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter unfolds a central philosophical problem of statistical mechanics. This problem lies in a clash between the Static Probabilities offered by statistical mechanics and the Dynamic ...
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This chapter unfolds a central philosophical problem of statistical mechanics. This problem lies in a clash between the Static Probabilities offered by statistical mechanics and the Dynamic Probabilities provided by classical or quantum mechanics. The chapter looks at the Boltzmann and Gibbs approaches in statistical mechanics and construes some of the great controversies in the field — for instance the Reversibility Paradox — as instances of this conflict. It furthermore argues that a response to this conflict is a critical choice that shapes one's understanding of statistical mechanics itself, namely, whether it is to be conceived as a special or fundamental science. The chapter details some of the pitfalls of the latter ‘globalist’ position and seeks defensible ground for a kind of ‘localist’ alternative.Less
This chapter unfolds a central philosophical problem of statistical mechanics. This problem lies in a clash between the Static Probabilities offered by statistical mechanics and the Dynamic Probabilities provided by classical or quantum mechanics. The chapter looks at the Boltzmann and Gibbs approaches in statistical mechanics and construes some of the great controversies in the field — for instance the Reversibility Paradox — as instances of this conflict. It furthermore argues that a response to this conflict is a critical choice that shapes one's understanding of statistical mechanics itself, namely, whether it is to be conceived as a special or fundamental science. The chapter details some of the pitfalls of the latter ‘globalist’ position and seeks defensible ground for a kind of ‘localist’ alternative.
F.H. Buckley
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300175219
- eISBN:
- 9780300195071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300175219.003.0023
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the faults and changes sought in American private and criminal law. It discusses constitutional infirmities and the reversibility of presidential government. The chapter also ...
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This chapter discusses the faults and changes sought in American private and criminal law. It discusses constitutional infirmities and the reversibility of presidential government. The chapter also offers some recommendations on how to slow down the economic pathologies of the American legal system.Less
This chapter discusses the faults and changes sought in American private and criminal law. It discusses constitutional infirmities and the reversibility of presidential government. The chapter also offers some recommendations on how to slow down the economic pathologies of the American legal system.
Jane Hwang Degenhardt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640843
- eISBN:
- 9780748651597
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640843.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter discusses in more detail the gendered implications of Islamic conversion. It considers the stakes of redemption, sexual seduction and redemption in Philip Massinger's The Renegado, and ...
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This chapter discusses in more detail the gendered implications of Islamic conversion. It considers the stakes of redemption, sexual seduction and redemption in Philip Massinger's The Renegado, and reads this play against Robert Daborne's A Christian Turned Turke. Here, it reveals a tension within The Renegado that involves embodied resistance and spiritual redemption that divides along the lines of gender. It shows that while the sexual transgression of the Christian protagonist with a Muslim woman is redeemable by spiritual repentance, the chastity of the Christian heroine is protected by a magical relic. This demonstrates the reversibility of male transgression and the permanent and embodied consequences of female sexual contamination.Less
This chapter discusses in more detail the gendered implications of Islamic conversion. It considers the stakes of redemption, sexual seduction and redemption in Philip Massinger's The Renegado, and reads this play against Robert Daborne's A Christian Turned Turke. Here, it reveals a tension within The Renegado that involves embodied resistance and spiritual redemption that divides along the lines of gender. It shows that while the sexual transgression of the Christian protagonist with a Muslim woman is redeemable by spiritual repentance, the chastity of the Christian heroine is protected by a magical relic. This demonstrates the reversibility of male transgression and the permanent and embodied consequences of female sexual contamination.
Paul Giles
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198830443
- eISBN:
- 9780191873652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198830443.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This concluding chapter takes its title from a book of photographs about Australia published in 1931 by E. O. Hoppé. The cover of The Fifth Continent showed the photographer atop a globe looking back ...
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This concluding chapter takes its title from a book of photographs about Australia published in 1931 by E. O. Hoppé. The cover of The Fifth Continent showed the photographer atop a globe looking back at a map of Australia, and it is this attempt to reconstitute the world in relation to alternative spatial perspectives that provided the impetus for Hoppé’s work. Similarly, to read authors such as Slessor or Dark in parallax with canonical types is not only to correlate relatively neglected figures with modernism’s larger orbit, but also to highlight various neglected aspects of more established writers, the complex ways in which their narratives face backwards as well as forwards. The particular force of backgazing within a sphere of modernism thus lies in the way it resists conventional classifications by projecting not an oppositional but a reversible world, one whose boundaries are rendered enigmatic.Less
This concluding chapter takes its title from a book of photographs about Australia published in 1931 by E. O. Hoppé. The cover of The Fifth Continent showed the photographer atop a globe looking back at a map of Australia, and it is this attempt to reconstitute the world in relation to alternative spatial perspectives that provided the impetus for Hoppé’s work. Similarly, to read authors such as Slessor or Dark in parallax with canonical types is not only to correlate relatively neglected figures with modernism’s larger orbit, but also to highlight various neglected aspects of more established writers, the complex ways in which their narratives face backwards as well as forwards. The particular force of backgazing within a sphere of modernism thus lies in the way it resists conventional classifications by projecting not an oppositional but a reversible world, one whose boundaries are rendered enigmatic.
John L. Pollock
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195060133
- eISBN:
- 9780197560129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195060133.003.0012
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Exotic computational principles are those not derivable from the theory of proportions constructed in Chapter 2. The most important of these principles are ...
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Exotic computational principles are those not derivable from the theory of proportions constructed in Chapter 2. The most important of these principles are (PFREQ) and (AGREE). The purpose of this chapter is to show that these principles can be derived from a strengthened theory of proportions—what we might call ‘the exotic theory of proportions’. The principles of the theory of proportions constructed in Chapter 2 seem completely unproblematic, and accordingly the derivations of principles of nomic probability can reasonably be regarded as proofs of those principles. That ceases to be the case when we turn to the exotic theory of proportions and the corresponding exotic principles of nomic probability. Although quite intuitive, the exotic axioms for proportions are also very strong and correspondingly riskier. Furthermore, although the exotic axioms are intuitive, intuitions become suspect at this level. The problem is that there are a large number of intuitive candidates for exotic axioms, and although each is intuitive by itself, they are jointly inconsistent. This will be illustrated below. It means that we cannot have unqualified trust in our intuitions. In light of this, (PFREQ) and (AGREE) seem more certain than the exotic principles of proportions from which they can be derived. As such, those derivations cannot reasonably be regarded as justifications for the probability principles. Instead they are best viewed as explanations for why the probability principles are true given the characterization of nomic probabilities in terms of proportions. The derivations play an explanatory role rather than a justificatory role. The exotic principles of proportions concern proportions in relational sets. Recall that we can compare sizes of sets with the relation ┌X ⇆Y┐, which was defined as ┌מ(X/X∪Y) = מ(Y/X∪Y) ┐. Our first exotic principle relates the size of a binary relation (a “two-dimensional set”) to the sizes of its one-dimensional segments. If x is in the domain D(R) of R, let Rx be the Rprojection of x, i.e., {y| Rxy}. Suppose D(R) = D(S), and for each x in their domain, Rx ⇆ Sx. Then their “linear dimensions” are everywhere the same.
Less
Exotic computational principles are those not derivable from the theory of proportions constructed in Chapter 2. The most important of these principles are (PFREQ) and (AGREE). The purpose of this chapter is to show that these principles can be derived from a strengthened theory of proportions—what we might call ‘the exotic theory of proportions’. The principles of the theory of proportions constructed in Chapter 2 seem completely unproblematic, and accordingly the derivations of principles of nomic probability can reasonably be regarded as proofs of those principles. That ceases to be the case when we turn to the exotic theory of proportions and the corresponding exotic principles of nomic probability. Although quite intuitive, the exotic axioms for proportions are also very strong and correspondingly riskier. Furthermore, although the exotic axioms are intuitive, intuitions become suspect at this level. The problem is that there are a large number of intuitive candidates for exotic axioms, and although each is intuitive by itself, they are jointly inconsistent. This will be illustrated below. It means that we cannot have unqualified trust in our intuitions. In light of this, (PFREQ) and (AGREE) seem more certain than the exotic principles of proportions from which they can be derived. As such, those derivations cannot reasonably be regarded as justifications for the probability principles. Instead they are best viewed as explanations for why the probability principles are true given the characterization of nomic probabilities in terms of proportions. The derivations play an explanatory role rather than a justificatory role. The exotic principles of proportions concern proportions in relational sets. Recall that we can compare sizes of sets with the relation ┌X ⇆Y┐, which was defined as ┌מ(X/X∪Y) = מ(Y/X∪Y) ┐. Our first exotic principle relates the size of a binary relation (a “two-dimensional set”) to the sizes of its one-dimensional segments. If x is in the domain D(R) of R, let Rx be the Rprojection of x, i.e., {y| Rxy}. Suppose D(R) = D(S), and for each x in their domain, Rx ⇆ Sx. Then their “linear dimensions” are everywhere the same.
John von Neumann
Nicholas A. Wheeler (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691178561
- eISBN:
- 9781400889921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691178561.003.0006
- Subject:
- Physics, Theoretical, Computational, and Statistical Physics
This chapter considers what would happen to a mixture with the statistical operator 𝗨 if a quantity 𝖱 with operator 𝖱 is measured in it. It then investigates the thermodynamics of quantum mechanical ...
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This chapter considers what would happen to a mixture with the statistical operator 𝗨 if a quantity 𝖱 with operator 𝖱 is measured in it. It then investigates the thermodynamics of quantum mechanical ensembles from two different points of view. First, the chapter assumes the validity of both of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, and proceeds on this basis to calculation of the entropy of ensembles. In this effort the normal methods of phenomenological thermodynamics are applied, and quantum mechanics plays a role only insofar as these thermodynamic observations relate to objects whose behavior is regulated by the laws of quantum. Afterwards this chapter proves the validity of these fundamental laws in quantum mechanics. Next, the chapter introduces some reversibility and equilibrium problems. Finally, this chapter discusses the macroscopic measurement.Less
This chapter considers what would happen to a mixture with the statistical operator 𝗨 if a quantity 𝖱 with operator 𝖱 is measured in it. It then investigates the thermodynamics of quantum mechanical ensembles from two different points of view. First, the chapter assumes the validity of both of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, and proceeds on this basis to calculation of the entropy of ensembles. In this effort the normal methods of phenomenological thermodynamics are applied, and quantum mechanics plays a role only insofar as these thermodynamic observations relate to objects whose behavior is regulated by the laws of quantum. Afterwards this chapter proves the validity of these fundamental laws in quantum mechanics. Next, the chapter introduces some reversibility and equilibrium problems. Finally, this chapter discusses the macroscopic measurement.
